Teaching The Newcastle Curriculum

Developed by Kathleen Jensen, the Newcastle preschool curriculum is a comprehensive approach to Early Childhood Education. This page briefly summarizes that curriculum. Specifics of the 3-4 Preschool and 4-5 Pre-K curriculum is covered in more detail in the Preschool Curriculum section of this site.

Newcastle teachers teach comprehensive early childhood lesson plans developed specifically for the Newcastle School.

The Newcastle preschool curriculum is a hands-on method of learning which inter-relates concepts as children gain experiences in reading, math, art, science, social studies, writing, music and creative movement. Each lesson plan has been carefully designed to teach age-appropriate and developmentally-appropriate academic and social skills. The curriculum is thematic. While children are practicing daily academic preschool skills there is a different and interesting theme with related activities and music for every week of the year. Newcastle preschool teachers are trained to master the basics of Newcastle’s preschool curriculum during a week long teacher training course held during the first week of August each year. In addition, during evening training meetings held the third week of every month of the school year, all preschool teachers are trained specifically to understand and present the following month’s preschool lesson plans. This monthly training also includes preschool classroom management skills development. It is a common practice for future teachers to observe and assist in the classes of veteran Newcastle preschool teachers, to substitute before being hired permanently and to teach sessions of Newcastle Summer Fun Camp prior to the new school year.